Although, you could take the approach that superstitions
initially arose out of a need to protect people from some
semi-dangerous endeavour. Hence superstitions like the talk
about "devil dogs" in the German Black Forest, which I'm
sure at one point prevented villagers from wandering out
in the woods at night, and getting mugged or attacked by
wolves or bears. There were no devil dogs, but people
probably occasionally got eaten. Thus, the superstition.
I'd say, keep the quotes. They look nicer, I think, and
keep things cleaner. I'm a real believer in erring on the
side of formality. ;)
Philip P.